Directional antenna configuration for tdd repeater

ABSTRACT

A wireless communication node, such as a repeater, including a frequency translating repeater, a physical layer (PHY) repeater, time divisional duplex repeater (TDD) and the like, is configured with a pair of directional patch antennae and an omni-directional antenna. The patch antennae can be selected depending on the orientation of the repeater package to communicate with a station such as an access point or a base station. The omni-directional antenna can be directed toward another station such as a client. The patch antennae and the omni-directional antenna can be orthogonally polarized to increase isolation and reduce electromagnetic coupling. Multiple antennae can be used in multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configurations.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/602,455 filed on Nov. 21, 2006 which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/738,579, filed Nov. 22, 2005entitled “DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA CONFIGURATION FOR TDD REPEATER,” thecontents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to wireless communication andmore specifically to an antenna configuration associated with a wirelessTime Division Duplex (TDD) repeater, the antenna configuration made upof closely packaged antennas having orthogonal polarization andisolation to reduce electromagnetic coupling and to provide highdirectivity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a wireless communication node, such as a TDD repeater designed tooperate with a TDD based wireless system capable of simultaneoustransmission and reception of TDD packets, the orientation of theantenna units is crucial in establishing non-interfering operation as itis critical that the receiver is not desensitized by the transmittedsignals. Further, enclosing antenna modules and repeater circuitrywithin the same package is desirable for convenience, manufacturing costreduction and the like, but such packaging can give rise to interferenceproblems.

In a full duplex repeater package for use in a TDD system, one antennaor set of antennae may operate with, for example, a base station, andanother antenna operates with a subscriber. Since the frequency for theTDD repeater may be the same, or at least may be very close in frequencyfor both sides of the repeater, isolation becomes important particularlywhen simultaneous transmission and reception on both sides of therepeater are performed. Further, since the repeater unit houses allcircuitry within a single package, it is desirable to closely positionthe antennae with minimal antenna-to-antenna interaction whilemaintaining acceptable gain and in many cases acceptable directivity.Directivity in antennae is desirable for use in links where thedirection of the signal arrival will not vary, or at least will varyinfrequently such as in a link from a repeater to a base station orAccess Point (AP). Difficulties arise however, in that the use ofantennae with high directivity requires that directional alignment withthe base station or AP be performed, typically by trial-and-error manualalignment.

For ease of manufacture, an exemplary repeater should be configured suchthat it can be easily produced in high volume manufacturing operationsusing low cost packaging. The exemplary repeater should be simple to setup to facilitate easy customer operation. Additional problems arisehowever when packaging repeater antennae and circuitry in closeproximity. First, it becomes difficult to achieve high isolation betweenantennae due solely to the close physical proximity even wheredirectional antennae are used. Isolation becomes even more difficultwhere antennas having omni directional antenna patterns are used andwhere the proximity of the repeater to structures such as walls,furniture or other objects cannot be anticipated, and thus cannot becompensated for in advance due to unknown such as the final placement ofthe repeater module.

Simply put, as the antennae are placed closer together, the more likelythe antennae will couple energy into each other, which reduces theisolation between the sides of the repeater. Maintaining an omni orsemi-omni directional antenna pattern becomes difficult sinceoverlapping radiation patterns of antennae which are placed close toeach other tend to generate interference effects. Energy from theantennae can further be electrically coupled through circuit elementssuch as through a shared ground plane especially in configurations wheremultiple antennas are integrated and the ground plane is small. Whilethe use of direction antenna can benefit the repeater in terms ofincreased range and reduced wireless signal variation due to Raleighfading effects, directional antennas are not typically used for indoorapplications, due to the requirement for directional alignment, which isbeyond the capability or desire of the average user.

Some improvements can be obtained through cancellation or similartechniques where a version of a signal transmitted on one side of therepeater is used to remove the same signal if it appears on the otherside of the repeater. Such cancellation however can be expensive in thatadditional circuitry is required, and can be computationally expensivein that such cancellation can result in the introduction of a delayfactor in the repeater or alternatively can require the use of moreexpensive and faster processors to perform the cancellation function.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the above problems by providing anexemplary antenna array configuration in which two closely spaced patchantennae are combined with a dipole antenna such that one of the patchantennae can be selected depending on the orientation of the repeaterpackage to communicate with a base station, AP, or the like, and thedipole antenna can be directed generally toward a client device such asa subscriber device, a user device, a wireless communication node, orthe like. The patch antennae and the dipole antenna are orthogonallypolarized to increase isolation and reduce electromagnetic couplingbetween the patch and dipole antennae. The antennae can be fed in abalanced configuration to reduce common mode currents. The use ofmultiple switched directional antennae allows for minimal userinteraction during initial configuration and the repeater electronicsmay be utilized for automatic selection of the best directional antennafor use during initial configuration, and also periodically duringoperation.

The exemplary antenna configuration can include a monopole, a dipole, oranother substantially omni-directional antenna element facing a clientside of the repeater and two patch antennae facing the base station sideof the repeater. The patch antennae are in parallel relation to eachother and a substrate such as a ground plane located therebetween. Theclient side element can be arranged on the ground plane and, as noted,can be a monopole antenna, a dipole antenna, or the like. Either of thepatch antennae can operate depending on which antenna has the bestsignal characteristics for communicating with a base station antenna. Anisolation fence can be used between the patch antennae and the clientside antenna arranged in perpendicular relation to the planes of thepatch antennae and the main ground plane/circuit substrate.

It will be appreciated that placement of the repeater unit will have alarge impact on determining the signal quality both toward the basestation and between the repeater client or clients. Therefore, repeaterperformance can be analyzed and a user could be directed to repositionthe repeater unit for optimum signal performance. In accordance with thepresent invention, the use of two or more switchable patch antennae canaddress the placement issue to an extent by allowing the system toselect which of the patch antenna will provide the best reception towardthe base station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate viewsand which together with the detailed description below are incorporatedin and form part of the specification, serve to further illustratevarious embodiments and to explain various principles and advantages inaccordance with the present invention

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating dipole array configurations inaccordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating the radiation patterns of a dipoleportion of an exemplary dipole array configuration with and without anisolation fence in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating the radiation patterns of a patch portionof an exemplary dipole array configuration with and without an isolationfence in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating the combined radiation patterns of adipole portion and patch portions of an exemplary dipole arrayconfiguration with an isolation fence in accordance with variousexemplary embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating isolation vs. frequency between dipoleand patch portions of a dipole array configuration with an isolationfence in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR)for a dipole portion and a patch portion of a dipole array configurationwith and without an isolation fence in accordance with various exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating monopole array configurations inaccordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a graph illustrating the radiation patterns of a monopoleportion of an exemplary monopole array configuration with and without anisolation fence in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a graph illustrating the radiation patterns of a patch portionof an exemplary monopole array configuration with and without anisolation fence in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a graph illustrating isolation vs. frequency between monopoleand patch portions of a monopole array configuration with an isolationfence in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a graph illustrating the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR)for a monopole portion and a patch portion of a monopole arrayconfiguration with and without an isolation fence in accordance withvarious exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 12A is a diagram illustrating an enclosure for an antennae arrayconfiguration in accordance with various exemplary embodiments includinga dipole array configuration.

FIG. 12B is a diagram illustrating an internal view of the enclosure of12A in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 13A is a diagram illustrating an alternative enclosure for anantennae array configuration in accordance with various exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 13B is a diagram illustrating an internal view of the enclosure of13A in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating switching unit for switching betweendirectional antennae in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a repeater in a system with a clientand an access point in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A directional antenna configuration is disclosed and described hereinfor a wireless communication node such as a TDD repeater. The exemplaryantenna configuration can include a monopole, a dipole, or analternative omni-directional or quasi omni-directional antenna elementor configuration such as an “F” shaped antenna or the like, facing aclient side of the repeater and two patch antennae facing the basestation side of the repeater. The patch antennae are arranged inparallel relation to each other and in relation to a ground planearranged therebetween and extending beyond the patch antennae on oneside, such as the client side. The client side element can be arrangedon the ground plane and, as noted, can be a monopole antenna, a dipoleantenna, or the like. The patch antennae are both orthogonally polarizedwith respect to the client side antenna and are preferably verticallypolarized, while the client side antenna is horizontally polarized.Either one of the two patch antenna can be switched into operationdepending on which antenna has the best signal characteristics forcommunicating with a base station antenna.

Circuitry for the repeater can further be arranged on the ground planebetween the patch antennae and thus can be configured for maximum noiserejection. For example, to reduce generalized coupling through theground plane or repeater circuit board substrate, the antennae can bedriven in a balanced fashion such that any portion of a signal couplinginto the feed structure of another antenna will be common mode couplingfor maximum cancellation. To further improve isolation and increase linkefficiency, an isolation fence can be used between the patch antennaeand the client side antenna. The isolation fence consists of, forexample, a second ground plane or planar conductor portion arranged inperpendicular relation to the planes of the patch antennae and the mainground plane/circuit substrate.

It will be appreciated that placement of the repeater unit will have alarge impact on determining the signal quality both toward the basestation and toward the repeater client or clients. In some embodiments,a sounding signal can be used to analyze repeater performance. Based onthe analysis, a user could be directed to reposition the repeater unitfor optimum signal performance. In accordance with the presentinvention, the use of two switchable patch antennae can address theplacement issue to an extent by allowing the system to select which ofthe patch antenna will provide the best reception toward the basestation.

As noted above, the exemplary repeater can be configured as a dipolepatch array 100 as shown in FIG. 1. In arrangements 110 and 120, a pairof parallel patch antennae 114 and 115 can be arranged on either side ofa ground plane 113, which can also be used as the circuit board for therepeater circuitry. Each of the patch antennae 114 and 115 are arrangedin parallel with the ground plane 113 and can be printed on a printedcircuit board (PCB), wiring board or the like, or can be constructed ofa stamped metal portion embedded in a plastic housing. A planar portionof the PCB associated with the ground plane 113 can contain an antenna,such as a dipole antenna 111 configured, for example, as an embeddedtrace thereon and directed toward the client side of the repeater. Itwill be appreciated that the orientation of the patch antennae 114 and115 are orthogonal with respect to the dipole antenna 111 and thus areorthogonally polarized leading to greater isolation and link efficiency.Typically, the patch antennae 114 and 115 are vertically polarized andthe dipole antenna 111 is horizontally polarized.

As shown in arrangement 110, a conductive barrier, such as an isolationfence 112, can be used to provide an electromagnetic barrier between thephysical regions of the patch antennae 114 and 115 and the dipolesection 111 which are most likely to couple into each other. Inarrangement 120, the isolation fence is not present. The isolation fencecan be electrically coupled to the ground plane 113 to further enhancecommon mode noise rejection.

The result of the use of the dipole patch array in various embodimentswith a selected one of the patch antennae 114 and 115 and the dipoleantenna 111 can be seen in FIG. 2, where a radiation plot shows the gainversus angle of azimuth and elevation are shown for the dipole antenna111. In a trace 210, the gain vs. azimuth angle of the dipole antenna111 is shown for an exemplary dipole patch array without the fence 112.Trace 211 shows the gain vs. elevation angle of the dipole antenna 111without the fence 112. A peak gain of 4.7 dBi is realized with anazimuth of 160° and elevation of 75°. When the fence 112 is used, theimprovement in peak gain and directivity can be seen. For example, atrace 220 shows the gain vs. azimuth angle of the dipole antenna 111 anda trace 221 shows the gain vs. elevation angle of the dipole antenna 111with the fence 112. With the fence 112 in use, a peak gain of 5.5 dBi isrealized with an azimuth of 130° and elevation of 65°.

Additional results of the use of the dipole patch array in variousembodiments with a selected one of the patch antennae 114 and 115 andthe dipole antenna 111 can be seen in FIG. 3, where a radiation plotshows the gain versus angle of azimuth and elevation are shown for aselected one of the patch antennae 114 and 115. In a trace 310, the gainvs. azimuth angle of the selected patch antennae 114 and 115 is shownfor an exemplary dipole patch array without the fence 112. Trace 311shows the gain vs. elevation angle of the selected patch antennae 114and 115 without the fence 112. A peak gain of 7.8 dBi is realized withan azimuth of 65° and elevation of 70°. When the fence 112 is used,improved roll off at the outer pattern regions is seen. For example, atrace 320 shows the gain vs. azimuth angle of the selected patchantennae 114 and 115 and a trace 321 shows the gain vs. elevation angleof the selected patch antennae 114 and 115 with the fence 112. With thefence 112 in use, a peak gain of 7.5 dBi is realized with an azimuth of70° and elevation of 75°, however, as noted the roll off in the greaterthan 90° and less than −90° regions, which regions are most likely tocause interference with the dipole antenna 111, is improved.

The above described performance relations are better seen in thecombined plot shown in FIG. 4. Therein, a radiation pattern 430 of thedipole antenna 111 is shown against radiation patterns 410 and 420 ofthe patch antennae 114 and 115 in an exemplary dipole patch array usinga fence 112. As a result of the configuration of the antennae and theuse of the fence isolation, particularly at the desired frequency forthe present example, such as the 2.44 GHz frequency band commonlyassociated with the IEEE 802.11(b) specification or the 802.11(g)specification commonly referred to as “Wi-Fi,” as shown in FIG. 5. Itshould be appreciated that the present invention can also be used inother networks or systems such as Wi-Max systems, Wi-Bro systems, and/orsystems operating in accordance with well-known IEEE “802” standardssuch as 802.16 systems and 802.20 systems including their respectivesubparts, such as 802.16(e) systems, or in any TDD wireless system. Atrace 510 shows the isolation between antenna elements vs. frequency foran exemplary dipole patch array without a fence 112. It should be notedthat within the 2.44 GHz band, the isolation is locally poor incomparison to a trace 511, which shows isolation with the fence 112 andshows improved isolation in the 2.44 GHz band.

It will be appreciated that the use of fence 112 can lead to furtherimprovement, for example in the area of antenna matching, particularlyfor the selected one of the patch antennae 114 and 115 as can be seen inFIG. 6. A trace 610 shows the VSWR vs. frequency for the dipole antenna111 without the fence 112. It will be noted that the VSWR is relativelyflat across the frequency range which is desirable. A trace 611 showsthe VSWR vs. frequency for the selected one of the patch antennae 114and 115 without the fence 112. As can be seen, the VSWR in the desiredbandwidth is poor for the selected one of the patch antennae 114 and 115without the fence 112 indicating mismatching and reduced radiation andreception efficiency. By using the fence 112, only marginal improvementin VSWR is realized for the dipole antenna 111 as shown in a trace 620.However, with the use of the fence 112, VSWR performance is drasticallyimproved for the selected one of the patch antennae 114 and 115 as shownin a trace 621.

In accordance with various alternative embodiments, as noted above, theexemplary repeater can be configured as a monopole patch array 700 asshown in FIG. 7. As with the dipole configuration, a pair of parallelpatch antennae 714 and 715 can be arranged on either side of a groundplane 713, which can also be used as the circuit board for the repeatercircuitry. Each of the patch antennae 714 and 715 are arranged inparallel with the ground plane 713 and can be printed on a printedcircuit board (PCB), wiring board or the like, or can be constructed ofa stamped metal portion embedded in a plastic housing. A planar portionof the PCB associated with the ground plane 713 can contain an antenna,such as a monopole antenna 711 configured, for example, as an embeddedtrace thereon and directed toward the client side of the repeater. Itwill be appreciated that the orientation of the patch antennae 714 and715 are orthogonal with respect to the monopole antenna 711 and thus areorthogonally polarized leading to greater isolation and link efficiency.Typically, the patch antennae 714 and 715 are vertically polarized andthe monopole antenna 711 is horizontally polarized.

An isolation fence 712 can be used to provide an electromagnetic barrierbetween the physical regions of the patch antennae 714 and 715 and themonopole antenna 711 which are most likely to couple into each other.The isolation fence can be electrically coupled to the ground plane 713to further enhance common mode noise rejection.

The result of the use of the monopole patch array in various embodimentswith a selected one of the patch antennae 714 and 715 and the monopoleantenna 711 can be seen in FIG. 8, where a radiation plot shows the gainversus angle of azimuth and elevation are shown for the monopole antenna711. In a trace 810, the gain vs. azimuth angle of the monopole antenna711 is shown for an exemplary monopole patch array without the fence712. Trace 811 shows the gain vs. elevation angle of the monopoleantenna 711 without the fence 712. When the fence 712 is used, animprovement in localized directivity can be seen. For example, a trace820 shows the gain vs. azimuth angle of the monopole antenna 711 and atrace 821 shows the gain vs. elevation angle of the monopole antenna 711with the fence 712. With the fence 712 in use, a peak azimuthal gain of1.8 dBi is realized an a peak elevation gain of 2.8 dBi is realized.

Additional results of the use of the monopole patch array in variousembodiments with a selected one of the patch antennae 714 and 715 andthe monopole antenna 711 can be seen in FIG. 9, where a radiation plotshows the gain versus angle of azimuth and elevation are shown for aselected one of the patch antennae 714 and 715. In a trace 910, the gainvs. azimuth angle of the selected patch antennae 714 and 715 is shownfor an exemplary monopole patch array without the fence 712. Trace 911shows the gain vs. elevation angle of the selected patch antennae 714and 715 without the fence 712. A peak gain of 7.6 dBi is realized withan azimuth of 60° and elevation of 80°. When the fence 712 is used, somechange in roll off at the outer pattern regions is seen howeverperformance closely matches non-fence performance. For example, a trace920 shows the gain vs. azimuth angle of the selected patch antennae 714and 715 and a trace 921 shows the gain vs. elevation angle of theselected patch antennae 714 and 715 with the fence 712. With the fence712 in use, a peak gain of 7.4 dBi is realized with an azimuth of 60°and elevation of 80°, which is nearly identical to the performancewithout the fence. Likewise, isolation with the use of the fence showsnominal improvement as shown in FIG. 10. A trace 1010 shows theisolation between antenna elements vs. frequency for an exemplarymonopole patch array without a fence 712. In comparison to a trace 1011,which shows isolation with the fence 712, a small margin of improvedisolation is realized.

Use of fence 712 leads to only marginal improvement in VSWR for theselected one of the patch antennae 714 and 715 as can be seen in FIG.11, while actually decreasing the VSWR performance slightly for themonopole antenna 711. A trace 1110 shows the VSWR vs. frequency for themonopole antenna 711 without the fence 712. It will be noted that theVSWR is relatively flat across the frequency range which is desirable. Atrace 1111 shows the VSWR vs. frequency for the selected one of thepatch antennae 714 and 715 without the fence 712. As can be seen, theVSWR is relatively flat across the frequency range which is desirable.By using the fence 712, a marginal degradation in VSWR is realized forthe monopole antenna 711 as shown in a trace 1120. With the use of thefence 712, VSWR performance is only nominally improved for the selectedone of the patch antennae 714 and 715 as shown in a trace 1121.

It will be appreciated that the exemplary dipole or monopole patch arrayalong with the repeater electronics can be efficiently housed in acompact enclosure 1200 as shown in FIG. 12A. The structure of theenclosure 1200 can be such that it will be naturally oriented in one oftwo ways however, instructions can guide a used in how to place theenclosure to maximize signal reception. An exemplary dipole patch arrayis shown in FIG. 12B, where a ground plane 1213, preferably incorporatedwith a PCB for the repeater electronics can be arranged in parallelbetween two patch antennae 1214 and 1215 using, for example, standoffs1220. It will be appreciated that in some embodiments, in order toreduce costs, standoffs will be unnecessary as the enclosure 1200 can bemolded with slots or other fixative structures to hold the ground plane1213 and the two patch antennae 1214 and 1215 in position when theenclosure 1200 is assembled. An isolation fence 1212 can be used asnoted above to improve isolation in many instances. In alternativeembodiments as shown in FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B, a claimshell enclosure1310 can be used with a ground plane/PCB substrate 1313 positionedtherewithin and a patch antenna 1314 and client side antenna 1311, whichcan be a dipole antenna, a monopole antenna or the like, for example, asdescribed hereinabove.

As described above, the directional antenna includes two or moreantennae such as patch antennae which can be switched as illustrated inexemplary scenario 1400 as shown in FIG. 14. An exemplary repeater unitcan include a directional antenna section 1410, an omni directional orquasi omni directional antenna section 1420 and a radio frequency (RF)front end section 1430 some or all of which can be integrated into, forexample, an integrated antenna array. The directional antenna section1410 includes a first directional antenna 1411, a second directionalantenna 1412, and possibly additional antenna which can include patchportions etched into a printed circuit board material or can be stampedfrom metal and laminated as described hereinabove. The first directionalantenna 1411 and the second directional antenna 1412 or additionalantenna can be switched into operation using an antenna switch 1413depending on which of the directional antenna have the best signalcharacteristics. In a set up procedure, which can be performed by auser, the repeater is positioned near the desired base station or AP anda button is pressed. Input is provided to the repeater that will allowit to be configured according to a button press procedure such as thatdescribed in pending application U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/536,471, entitled “IMPROVED WIRELESS NETWORK REPEATER,” filed May 26,2005, attorney docket no. WF02-09/27-007 and incorporated herein byreference. The integrated antenna array can be housed in a compacthousing, for example as described hereinabove in connection with FIG.12.

Accordingly, the exemplary repeater can select the first directionalantenna 1411 and scans all allowable frequency channels for beacontransmissions from an AP. The repeater stores each received beacon andinformation about the quality of the signal associated with the beaconin a table. The repeater then selects the second directional antenna1412 and repeats the scan of the allowable frequency channels as notedabove. If additional directional antennae are used, then the repeaterwill scan and record beacon signal information for all the directionalantennae and store the information in a table. When scanning is competefor all the directional antennae, the directional antenna associatedwith the beacon signal information having the best quality metric suchas power, signal-to-noise-ration (SNR) or the like between the twoantennae will be selected and identified as the master or target AP andan identifier such as a BSS_ID, which is typically the MAC address ofthe target AP, is stored. The identifier can then be provided to therepeater showing the “affiliated” AP for reference during subsequentstart ups. Once the affiliated AP information, such as the BSS_ID forthe affiliated AP, is stored and the scanning task is indicated as beingcomplete, the user will re-position the repeater.

Once the repeater is relocated and powered, the above described scanprocess or a modified scan process can be repeated. However, onceinformation associate with the affiliated AP is obtained in a first scanor a first portion of a scanning procedure, it can be used in making thedecision as to which patch antenna is deemed to have the best signalquality and therefore is selected as the patch for initial operation. Itwill further be appreciated that in some embodiments, a combined scanprocedure that locates APs and selects a best signal patch antenna canbe used in one initialization procedure. When initialization iscomplete, a “configured” indication is provided to a user such as asimple LED indicator (not shown).

Additional scanning can be performed based on various scan criteria. Forexample, additional scans can be performed periodically after theexpiration of a time interval, when a quality metric, including areceived power level of the AP signal, drops below a threshold, when thepacket error rate exceeds a threshold value, or when various othercriteria are met. Additional scanning can also be performedopportunistically during periods where no important information is orwill be transmitted over the repeater link based, for example, on knowncharacteristics of the wireless MAC protocol.

To illustrate the placement of an exemplary repeater in a wireless TDDsystem, an exemplary wireless network scenario 1500 is shown in FIG. 15.Therein a base station 1510 can communicate with a repeater 1520 forcommunication with a client 1530. An air interface 1511 can be used forcommunication to and from the base station 1510 and the repeater 1520through one or more directional antennae 1521 one of which can beselected for optimum operation using switch 1522. The selection of theantennae 1521 can be changed in accordance with a periodic scanninginterval or a scanning performed based on additional criteria asdescribed hereinabove. A repeater unit 1523 is capable of simultaneouslyhanding transmission and reception of information to and from the basestation 1510 while communicating with the client 1530 using adirectional antenna 1524, which broadcasts the repeated signal to client1530 over air interface 1525 and also receives signal energy from client1530 to re-transmit to base station 1510. It will also be appreciatedthat depending on the particular embodiment, the repeater 1523 can actas a physical (PHY) layer repeater simply re-transmitting withoutparsing the protocol information such as the packet header or the like,or can be provided with additional intelligence such that the repeater1523 can provide additional higher layer protocol functions, such asmedia access control (MAC) functions which require header parsing, errorcorrection, routing, and the like typically associated with a higherlayer protocol.

In accordance with some embodiments, multiple antenna modules can beconstructed within the same repeater or device, such as multipledirectional antennae or antenna pairs as described above and multipleomni or quasi-omni-directional antennae for use, for example, in amultiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) environment or system.

This disclosure is intended to explain how to fashion and use variousembodiments in accordance with the invention rather than to limit thetrue, intended, and fair scope and spirit thereof. The foregoingdescription is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the inventionto the precise form disclosed. Modifications or variations are possiblein light of the above teachings. The embodiment(s) was chosen anddescribed to provide the best illustration of the principles of theinvention and its practical application, and to enable one of ordinaryskill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments andwith various modifications as are suited to the particular usecontemplated. All such modifications and variations are within the scopeof the invention. The various circuits described above can beimplemented in discrete circuits or integrated circuits, as desired byimplementation. Further, portions of the invention may be implemented insoftware or the like as will be appreciated by one of skill in the artand can be embodied as methods associated with the content describedherein.

1. A wireless communication apparatus comprising: a receiver portion; atransmitter portion; a substantially omni-directional antenna coupled tothe receiver portion and the transmitter portion, wherein the wirelessapparatus is configured to use the transmitter portion to transmitwireless signals from the omni-directional antenna during a firstinterval; and a pair of directional antenna coupled to the receiverportion and the transmitter portion, the wireless apparatus configuredto receive wireless signals using the pair of directional antenna duringat least a portion of the first interval.